Southerland, who appeared in 4 NBA games last year for the Charlotte Bobcats (1) and the New Orleans Pelicans (3), is the 16th player on the Blazers roster. However, this appears to be just a training camp signing if the contract is non-guaranteed.

As we’ve been over before, all of Portland’s other 15 players have guaranteed deals for next season according to Mark Deeks.

Barring the spectacular, it’s unlikely that Southerland makes the Blazers swallow the bitter pill of paying 16 players while only carrying 15.

However, one thing that could make the 6-foot-8 Southerland valuable is his perimeter shooting. According to DraftExpress profile, he’s a three-point shooting specialist. He only had four games in the league and shot 3-for-6 from three-point rage in 30 total NBA minutes.

According to NBAdleague.com’s stats, Southerland shot 32.3 percent from the three-point line on nearly five three-point attempts per game. He averaged 14.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per game but it’s likely his potential as a three-point specialist/stretch-4 that intrigues the Blazers and other NBA teams the most.

Southerland averaged 13.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game while shooting 40 percent from three on more than six attempts per game in his senior season at Syracuse.

Victor Claver’s shooting has been the main thing that’s undermined his ability to play that role for the Blazers. The Blazers got more comfortable with Dorell Wright in that role as the season went on. But in the playoffs, particularly against the Spurs, Wright had a forgettable performance after playing well in the series win against the Rockets.

As we have seen in free agency, having big men who can shoot is becoming a pricier endeavor every offseason.

Southerland doesn’t appear to be anything more than a Training Camp invite, but his potential skill set is something the Blazers, and almost every NBA team, can never have enough of.

Erik Gundersen

Erik Gundersen is the Trail Blazers beat reporter for The Columbian. He's a graduate of the Allen School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon in addition earning a degree in Spanish. He started writing about NBA Basketball for SwishScout.com before being the Sports Reporter Intern for TrailBlazers.com. He also fist-bumped with Kanye West once. Follow @BlazerBanter on twitter for more Blazers and NBA news.